Afghanistan’s Opium Production Falls, but Synthetic Drug Trade Surges: UN

KABUL – Opium production in Afghanistan has continued to decline, while the manufacture and trafficking of synthetic drugs is rapidly increasing, according to a new report released by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on Thursday.

The report shows that poppy cultivation in Afghanistan dropped by 20% in 2025 compared with the previous year, falling to an estimated 10,200 hectares. In 2024, cultivation stood at 12,600 hectares, while before the Taliban’s 2022 drug ban, it had reached 232,000 hectares nationwide.